Engine



I. SKLENAR April 21, 1942.

ENGINE Filed Nov. 15, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet l 2% INVfigTOR.

, ATTORNEY.

I. SKLENAR April 21, 1942.

ENGINE 2 Sheeis-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 15, 1938 Patented Apr. 21, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ENGINE Ignac Sklenir, Paris, France Application November 15, 1938, Serial No. 240,515 (01. 123-44) iclaims.

This application is a continuation-in-part with respect to my copending application Serial No. 28,195, filed June 24, 1935, now Patent Number 2,153,727 of Apr. 11, 1939.

The present invention relates to engines and has particular reference to internal combustion engines of what may conveniently be termed bi-rotary type. By the term bl-rotary as herein employed is meant that general type or class of engine the characteristic feature of which is an annular ported valve member encircling the outer ends of a bank of radially arranged cylinders, with the valve member and the cylinder bank mounted to have relative rotary movement and with flow of cylinder gases controlled by ports in the valve member and in the outer ends of the cylinders which pass into and out of communication with each other'due to the relative rotary movement between the parts. Within this general class of engine either the valve member Or the cylinder bank may be rotationally stationary or both parts may have rotational movement, the essential feature being relative rotary movement between these parts. Also within this general classification various different combustion cycles may be employed.

In certain of its aspects the present invention is particularly advantageous in connection with Otto cycle operation on the four stroke cycle principle and the invention will accordingly hereinafter be described and illustrated in its application to this particular form of engine, it being understood however, that such description is by way of example only and is not limiting with respect to the scope of the invention, which is defined in the appended claims. l

The general object of the invention is to improve upon the efllciency of operation of birotary engines and to this end the invention in one of its aspects contemplates the provision of novel means whereby the timing oi the opening and closing events of intake and exhaust, particularly intake, with respect to the cycle of operation of the engine, may be altered to provide more efficient charging of the engine cylinders regardless of variations in speed of operation of the engine than has heretofore been attainable. In another of its aspects the invention contemplates the mprovement of combustion efliciency and certainty of ignition by the provision of novel means for ensuring the presence of fresh gases in the vicinity of the igniting device at the time of each ignition and for minimizing dilution of the fresh charge inducted into any given cylinr w P uc s of combust n resu ting from the combustion occurring in another and previously fired cylinder.

The manner in which the general objects and other and more detailed objects 01' the invention are obtained andthe advantages to be derived from use of the invention may best be understood from a consideration of the ensuing portion of this specification, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings illustrative of the application of the invention to engine structure of the class under consideration.

Fig. 1 is a partial view in vertical section through the engine;v

Fig. 2' is an enlarged vertical sectional view on line 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view in vertical section through a portion of the engine;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showin the valve member in a different position of adlustment;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail view in vertical section of an ignition pocket venting means; and

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 of a slight modification.

Referring now more particularly to Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawings the engine illustrated is of bi-rotary type of known form and comprises an annular valve member indicated generally at I0 encircling a cylinder bank which in the present embodiment comprises a group of seven radially arranged cylinders l2. Preferably, but not necessarily, the valve member In is mounted to have no absolute rotational movement while the cylinder bank is mounted to rotate. In the em- 7 bodiment illustrated the direction of relative rotation of the cylinder bank with respect to the valve member I0 is indicated by the arrow i4.

Each of the cylinders I2 is provided with a piston 16 and in the embodiment illustrated the several pistons are connected to. a common crank pin ill by meansof a master connecting rod 20 and a number of link rods 22.

The desired operating phase relation between the relatively moving valve member, cylinder bank and crankshaft is maintained by suitable I gearing interconnecting these major components of the engine, which gearing may take any one of a number of different well known forms and which need not be illustrated or described herein in order for the present invention to be under-' stood.

The annular valve member i0 provides a series of peripherally spaced exhaust passages 24 each terminating at the inner surface of the valve me ber i a e s p t Member III is further provided with a plurality of peripherally spaced inlet passa es. ll m nating at their inner .ends in inlet ports II and at their outerends in inlet manifold connections 32. Advantageously, as shown, the exhaust passages extend-radially directly through the valve member while the inlet passages extend peripherally for some distance between their respectively offset ports 30 and manifold connections 32, the latter in the present instance being shown as opening laterally at one side of the valve member. With this arrangement of inlet and outlet passages the valve member is heated to minimum extent by the hot exhaust gases passing therethrough and cooling of this member is aided by the passage through the member of the relatively cool inlet gases.

Each of the cylinders is open at its outer end and carries a sealing element 34 which in the embodiment illustrated comprises an annular cufl-like member having a cylindrical portion 36 telescoped within a cylindrical neck ll at the outer end of the cylinder and having a flange portion 40 the outer surface, of which is spherically curved as indicated at "to provide a sealing surface. In addition to thesealing elements 34 the cylinder bank also carries an annular sealing ring which may be in the form of an integral one piece ring or may be built up of a series of segmental shoes 44 having suitable openings therein for the reception of the necks 38 of the cylinders and for the flange portions III of the sealing elements 34.

Packing rings 48 are'advantageously provided between the sealing elements and the cylinder. necks on the one hand and between the cylinder necks and the sealing ring on the other hand.

The inner surface 48 of the valve member is cylindrical and serves as a bearing for an annular control member 50 the outer surface of which is cylindrical and the inner surface of which is spherically curved as indicated at I2. Surface 52 is curved vto the same radius asthe As will be observed from the drawings, the

peripheral extent of each port 84 in the control member is less than the peripheral extent of the respectively cooperating inlet port of the valve member and likewise the peripheral extent of each port II in the control member is less than relative to the valve'member is as indicated by arrow M, the instant of opening of the cylinder port for the admission of gases through the inlet passage 28 and valve port 30 will be determined bythe position ofthe edge ll of the port 64 in the control member and by shifting the control member peripherally with respect to the valve member by actuation of the levers H, the timing of commencement of the inlet period may be altered with respect to the cycle of operation of the engine. 7

Likewise the timing of the end of the inlet period, which is controlled by the cylinder port passing the edge 16 of port 64, will be-similarly delayed or advanced by shifting the position of the control member.

In like fashion the shifting of the control member will operate to alter the timing of the commencement and ending of the exhaust period, which is determined by the cylinder ports passing into and out of communication with the ports 68 of the'control member.

outer spherically curved surfaces of the sealing elements 34 and the outer surface of the sealing ring, so that the sealing elements and the sealing ring move in sliding contact with the inner surface of the control member to provide a seal between the relatively movingparts to prevent the escape of cylinder gases.

The sealing ring ill is mounted for turning movement relative to the valve member and in the embodiment illustrated the sealing ring is turned through a limited range of movement relative to the valve member by means of levers 54 pivoted-at 56 to the valve member and provided at their inner ends with teeth 58 meshing with teeth 60 formed on flange portions '2 of the sides of the control member 50.

Member is provided with a series of periph erally spaced ports 84 adapted to cooperate with the inlet ports 30 in the valve member and a second series of ports- 80 adapted to cooperate with the exhaust ports 28.

In the engine illustrated, in which ignition is effected by means of high tension spark plugs. the valve member is provided with a series of peripherally spaced spark plug bores in which are located the spark plugs 10. The control member 50 is provided with a series of similarly spaced ignition ports II-to permit communication to be established between the spark plug bores and the interiors of the cylinders when the cylinder ports register with the ignition ports in the control member.

It will thus be apparent that the shiftable control member provides for varying the timing of the opening and closing events for both inlet and exhaust and this in turn permits more efiicient operation to be obtained throughout a wide range of speeds of operation than would be obtainable if the timing of these events remain constant.

It is well known that in high speed engines the gases in the manifolds show considerable inertia eii'ect. This is particularly the case with the intake gases where the pressure diiferential between manifold pressure and the cylinder pressure during the intake period must of practical necessity be limited to a relatively low value so that high rates of gas acceleration are not possible. Experience has shown that in order to secure the most advantageous character of operation the opening and closing events of the intake in a high speed engine must take place much later than in a slow speed engine. For engines of automotive or other type which must be capable of operating over a wide speed range it is usually the practice to adjust these timing events for some intermediate speed and this compromise results in lower volumetric emciency at low speeds and high speeds than would be the case if the timing of these events could be properly adjusted to the requirements of the low and high speeds of operation.

In so far as the timing of the opening and closin events of the exhaust are concerned a high speed en ine theoretically requires an earlier exhaust opening and a later'exhaust closing than a low speed engine. Practice however. shows that the time of exhaust opening is not critical. This is probably due to the fact that the critical pressure on either side of the exhaust orifice is exceeded by a considerable margin so that regardless of the operating speed the exhaust gases leave the cylinder with approximately the velocity of sound.

With the above in mind it will be evident that the provision of the shiitable control member in accordance with the present invention operates to permit the important factors of timing of the opening and closing events of the intake and also of the exhaust to be adjusted readily to compensate for variations in speed of operation of the engine.

As shown in Fig. 3 the control member is adiusted for low speed operation and as the engine speed is increased to a degree rendering retarding in the timing oi the intake desirable, the control member may then be shifted to the left as viewed in Fig. 3 to efiect retarding of both opening and closing of the intake relative to the cycle of operation of the engine.

Such movement of the control member operates to retard both the opening and the closing ofthe exhaust. As previously noted the openthe control member is moved from the position in ing of the exhaust should theoretically be advanced with increase in engine speed but as has or less purely theoretical disadvantage arising from delaying opening of the exhaust with increase in speed of operation.

As previously noted the ports in the control member, which may conveniently be regarded as control ports, have less peripheral extent than their respectively cooperating ports in the valve member. With the ports proportioned in this manner it will be apparent that shifting of the position of the control ports will not affect the ber pressures and temperatures substantially length of time in terms of crank travel of the In some instances it may be desirable to alter the length of either the intake or exhaust period or both when the timing is changed and to a certain practical extent the length of either or both of these periods in terms of crank travel may be varied with variation in the timing.

In order to illustrate how this may be accomplished there is shown in Fig. 4, an inlet control port 64a the peripheral extent of which is the same as the peripheral extent of the port 30 in the valve member.

By reference to Fig. 4 it will be observed that while in the position of the control member shown in the figure the theoretical length of the intake period is determined by the distance between the edges 14 and I5 of thecontrol port,

the actual practically 'efiective length of time of the opening of the port is determined by the distance between the edge I8 of the valve member, which overlaps the edge 14 of the control member in the position shown, and the edge 16 of the control port. Thus, in the position of the ports shown, corresponding to low engine speed, the really eiiective port opening occurs only when the edge ll of the cylinder port passes j the figure, in order to delay timing of the opening and closing events, the distance of the clear port opening between edges I8 and II will increase so that thepractical eflect will be to increase the length of the intake period as the 12 in the control member advantageously have greater peripheral extent than the openings of the spark plug bores, in order to insure unobstructed communication between the place of ignition and the compression space of the cylinder in all positions of adjustment of the control member.

It will be evident that the control of the position of adjustment of the control member may be efiected in any desired fashion, either manually or in response to one or more factors indicative of change of condition of engine operation requiring change of adjustment of this member.

In bi-rotary engines, one of the important practical advantages resides in the fact that the ignition means may be mounted in the valve member where it is exposed to combustion chamonly for the instant required for ignition to be effected. This very obviously reduces the severity of service on spark plugs, the life of which is greatly extended .as compared to what it would be if they were mounted in the cylinders.

Location of spark plugs or other igniting means in the valve member, however, introduces a certain operating difliculty which it is an object of thepresent invention to minimize or 'eliminate. The ignition means must evidently be placed in a recessed position in the valve member in order to permit the parts of the relatively rotating cylinder bank to pass the igniting means. Due to this recessed position required for the igniting means, a recess which for convenience may be munication with the spark plug, leaving in the ignition pocket a charge of highly compressed spent gas. When the succeeding cylinder comes into communication with the ignition pocket, the spent combustion gases trapped in the ignition pocket at a pressure which may be several times compression pressure, expand into the compression space of the cylinder andcontaminate the be practically negligible.

be depended upon and the condition arising from the spent gases trapped in the ignition pocket may result in irregular flring as well as the disadvantages arising from dilution of the fresh gas charge with the spent gases.

In order to eliminate this difficulty, the ignition pocket is vented between times of communication with diflerent cylinders and for the sake of simplicity of construction this is advantageously accomplished by means of a constantly open vent passage of small area which places the ignition pocket in communication with a zone of low pressure, preferably venting the pocket directly to atmosphere.

Referring now more particularly to Fig. 5, the venting of the ignition pocket is accomplished by means of a special type of spark plug. In this construction the plug 82 is seated in the bore 68 in the usual manner, the plug being of usual construction comprising an outer threaded metal shell as carrying an electrode 88 and a central core 8' ca yin an electrode SI. Inwardly of the electrodes the inner portion of the bore and 80 struction the outer shell 84 of the plug is drilled to 'provide a small diameter vent passage N which places the ignition pocket in communication with the atmosphere surrounding the valve member.

With this passage provided, it will be appar-- ent that the pressure within the ignition pocket will be relieved during the time after the cylinder which has just been flred passes out of communication with the pocket and the time when the next cylinder comes into communication with it. Consequently, when the next cylinder comes into communication with the pocket the compression pressure in the cylinder will serve to force fresh gases past the electrodes, thus insuring the presence of an ignitible mixture at the proper place when ignition occurs. A very slight loss of fresh gas charge may occur through the vent passage 94, but it must be remembered that the ignition pocket and consequently the vent passage is in communication with the cylinder for only an extremely short space of time at the instant of ignition so that the loss of fresh gas through the vent passage will be so small as to The vent passage does not necessarily have to be placed in the plug and in many instances it flow of the gases through the vent passage when a cylinder comes into communication with the pocket is not past the electrodes of the plug, the presence of fresh gas at the electrodes is nevertheless insured. The reason for this is that because of the reduction in pressure resulting from the flow of the trapped gases through the vent passage, the pressure in the ignition pocket will be lower than compression pressurewhen the next cylinder comes into communication with thepocket and any spent gas at low pressure that may remain in the cavity of the spark plug will be compressed by the cylinder charge into the inner part of the spark plug cavity, thus'permitting the fresh charge to reach the electrodes, which is all that isrequired.

From the foregoing it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many structural changes may be made in the forms of apparatus hereinbefore described by way of example, without departing from the principles of the invention, some of which may be employed to the exclusion of others.

It is accordingly to be understood that the invention embraces within its scope all forms of construction falling within the scope of the appended claims when they are yconstruecl as broadly as is consistent with the, state of the prior art.

What is claimed is:

1. A bi-rotary engine including a crankshaft, a cylinder bank and a valve member, all of said parts being mounted to have relative rotary movement with respect to each other, said valve member having a series'of peripherally spaced inlet ports and said cylinder bank including a plurality of cylinders having ports at'their working chamber ends positioned to come into and out of communication with the ports in the valve member due to relative rotary movement between the cylinder bank and the valve member, whereby to admit fluid to each of said cylinders a plurality of times during each revolution of the cylinder bank relative to the valve member, and a control member located between said cylinders and said valve member, said control member having a series of ports formed therein corresponding in number to the number of inlet ports in the valve member and correspondingly spaced, and said control member being adjustable relative to the valve member to alter the timing of admission of fluid to the cylinders through said ports.

2. A bi-rotary engine including a crankshaft, a cylinder bank and a valve member, all of said parts being mounted to have relative rotary-movement with respect to each other, said valve member having a series of peripherally spaced inlet ports and said cylinder vbank including a plurality of cylinders having ports at their working chamber ends positioned to come into and out of communication with the ports in the valve member due to relative rotary movement between the cylinder bank and the valve member, whereby to admit fluid to each of said cylinders a plurality of times during each revolution of the cylinder bankrelative to the valve member, and a control member located between said cylinders and said valve member, said control member having a series of ports formed therein corresponding in number to the number of inlet ports in the valve member and correspondingly spaced, the ports in the control member having less peripheral extent than the corresponding ports in the valve member. and said control member being adjustable relative to the valve member to alter the timing of admissirtson of fluid to the cylinders through said D 3. A bi-rotary engine including a crankshaft, a cylinder bank and a valve member, all of said 2,aso,ees

parts being mounted to have relative rotary movement with respect to each other, said valve member having a series of peripherally spaced inlet ports and a series of peripherally spaced exhaust ports alternating with the inlet ports and said cylinder bank including a plurality of cylinders having ports at their working chamber ends positioned to come into and out of communication with the ports in the valve member due to relative rotary movement between the cylinder bank and the valve member, whereby to admit fluid to and exhaust fluid from each of said cylinders a plurality of times during each revolution of the cylinder bank relative to the valve member, and a control member located between said cylinders and said valve member, said control member having a first series of peripherally spaced ports located to register with the inlet ports in said valve member and a second series of peripherally spaced ports located to register with the exhaust ports in said valve member, and said control member being adjustable relative to the valve member to alter the timin of gas flow to and from said cylinders through said ports.

4. A bi-rotary engine including a crankshaft, a cylinder bank and a valve member, all of said parts being mounted to have relative movement with respect to each other, said valve member having a series of peripherally spaced inlet ports and a series of peripherally spaced exhaust ports alternating with the inlet ports and said cylinder bank including a plurality of cylinders having ports at their working chamber ends positioned to come into and out of communication with the ports in the valve member due to relative rotary movement between the cylinder bank and the valve member, whereby to admit fluid to and exhaust fluid from each of said cylinders a plurality of times during each revolution of the cylinder bank relative to the valve member, and a control member located between said cylinders and said valve member, said control member having a flrstseries of peripherally spaced ports located to register with the inlet ports in said valve member and a second series of peripherally spaced ports located to register with the exhaust ports in said valve member, said first series of ports in said control memher having less peripheral extent than the inlet ports in the valve member with which they respectively register, and said control member being adjustable relative to the valve member to alter the timing of gas flow to and from said cylinders through said ports.

IGNAG sm a 

